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David said: 'I met Janet at the dress shop where she used to work. I walked past and smiled at her and she smiled back so I went back later to chat to her. We fell in love instantly and had a passionate relationship.

'But in those days you didn't have sex before marriage and we would have been despised if we'd stayed in Hereford. You were ostracised if you had a baby out of wedlock.

'When she told me she was pregnant I was terrified. We both decided we had to leave as soon as we could.'

Janet fell pregnant at a time when sex out of wedlock was frowned upon so they decided to elope. Janet was smitten with David who she called the 'Prince Charming of Hereford'

Wife Janet said: 'David was the Prince Charming of Hereford and very handsome. I never wanted anyone else.'

Janet's father Bert followed them to Scotland, where they managed to elude him for three-and-a-half weeks by staying in an out of the way guest house.

They also managed to evade a pack of newspaper reporters who spent weeks hunting Gretna Green, which was famous for young couples tying the knot.

David said: 'Her father would have killed her and my mother disapproved of us being together.

'My mother didn't want me to marry her and thought that it wasn't a good family to marry into.

'She even told Janet that I was a wanderer and would never get anywhere in life.

'I saved up about £60 over six weeks - which was like £2,000 in those days. I sold my shoes, bicycle and every possession I had to save up for our escape.

'I even sold a pair of shoes the Duke of Gloucester once gave me because they didn't fit him. We tried to raise every penny we could.

The couple, pictured right, outside the guesthouse where they stayed in Dumfries, Scotland. They avoided Janet's angry father Bert who had gone to Gretna Green, a popular spot for eloping couples, instead

When the couple arrived back at Hereford Railway Station a journalist was waiting for them and persuaded them to be interviewed for a newspaper. They were paid £30 for the story (pictured right, with the front cover, left) the equivalent of £1,500 today

'As we were running for the train in Hereford one of Janet's heels on her shoe broke. We caught the train to Carlisle and then hopped on another train without a ticket to Dumfries.

'We avoided Gretna Green because we knew that would be the first place Janet's father would look.'

While there a group of squaddies told the couple about a guest house called Jeanville Lover's Walk, which had become a shelter for runaways who wanted to get married.

The secret to a happy marriage is being able to talk to one another and being faithful to one another

David recalled: 'Bert came looking for us but he couldn't find us because he was in Gretna Green.

'But then we saw our pictures in the newspapers and heard he was looking for us.

'We couldn't afford to live on the wages I was getting so we decided she should get married as soon as possible then head home.

'When we got back there was nothing he could do because we were married and she was my wife. We stayed away from them and started building our own life together.'

When they arrived back at Hereford Railway Station a journalist was waiting for them and persuaded them to be interviewed.

They were paid £30 for the story, the equivalent of £1,500 today, and used the money to rent a friend's room while David, a qualified electrician, searched for work.

Within a few months he was working two jobs to support his pregnant wife and pay the rent on a cottage.

The couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary at their home in Marden, Herefordshire, surrounded by friends and family. But they never made peace with their parents who disowned them after the marriage

She gave birth to their baby girl Davina in June 1956 and the couple went on to have another child - and eventually two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Despite their happiness, the couple never found acceptance from Janet's father or David's mother Rose.

David said: 'We never made our peace with Bert, which is a shame. He would mouth things at us in the street when he saw us and he never came to visit his grandchildren.

'He died of cancer in 1996 aged 80. He was wrong about us and we proved him wrong. He knew it.

'My mother disowned me after we ran away. She was mentally ill and committed suicide in 1959 at the age of 53.

'Janet's mother - Florence - knew we were going and kept it a secret from her dad. She died of a heart condition in 1991. She was 74.

'My father Abel was an engineer. He passed away at 48 in 1949 from a heart condition so my children never knew their grandparents.'

Last month, the couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary at their home in Marden, Herefordshire, surrounded by friends and family.

Wife Janet, who went on to be a restaurant manager, said: 'From my point of view, the secret to a happy marriage is being able to talk to one another and being faithful to one another.